Even now, many
people tell me they have Ecommerce on their
website and are not happy with its
performance, yet all they have is a basic
shopping cart and although most web sites
with just a catalogue/shopping cart are now
slick enough to ensure a satisfactory
experience for consumers at the point of
purchase, few of the companies behind those
sites can execute the rest of the
transaction with the same degree of
efficiency.

After all, a
shopping cart is just a payment mechanism,
similar in function to the cash point in a
store. A customer has selected an articles/s
from the store and now wishes to purchase
and leave with their selection. Yet,
Ecommerce is all about acquiring and
retaining customers on-line and means
providing complete satisfaction from initial
promise to delivery at their door while
making a profit.

Yes, profit.
Poorly managed inventory, costly deliveries
and a high number of product returns can
quickly turn profits into losses, yet so
many companies focus on their direct sales
to the virtual exclusion of fulfillment and
channel connections.

Every on-line
ecommerce website, large or small, faces
seven main challenges; it presupposes you
have successfully marketed your products
directly, via channel resellers and your
website; a planned merchandising program is
in place; the online store has a high degree
of sophistication; controlling your customer
data; integrating your on and off-line
orders; plus a successful back-office
fulfillment method delivering the goods
cost-effectively and handling returns, or
you will pay the price in lost customers and
sales.

Indeed, on-line
fulfillment forces you to do far more than
enter orders, pick the stock, package it,
and ship. As an e-tailer you must also
answer the queries of your customers quickly
and accurately (while learning their buying
habits and preferences) and make good use of
the data generated during transactions.
Moreover, as an e-tailer you must integrate
your on-line orders and returns with
off-line ones, and do so in a way that makes
household delivery of small orders
economically viable.

At present,
every single transaction challenges you as
an e-tailer to deliver the goods quickly,
cheaply, and conveniently. Making contact
with the recipient is a trickier problem but
one that must be resolved if the full
potential of “e-impulse” orders is to be
realized, for an impulse purchase loses its
power to gratify if the product or service
takes too long to appear. Most e-tailers
ship orders within 48 hours, and they are
also making greater and greater use of
two-day shipping services via direct
connections with shipping companies and/or
fulfillment houses.

In theory,
ecommerce is simple: a customer selects the
product from your catalogue, buys it through
your shopping cart and you deliver the
product when, where, and how the customer
wants it delivered. Making this happen, of
course, is not simple. Therein is the
difference between just a shopping cart and
true Ecommerce. - John Shenton -
January, 2003

N.B.** The articles were first published in the Times
(Montreal, Canada) and written by
John Shenton as special contributor to the Times Technology Section.
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